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Redskins’ quarterback Robert Griffin III took to Twitter to say he’s ready to pick up a football again.

Just six months after reconstructive surgery to repair an ACL and LCL, doctors have cleared him to practice.

Optimism is running rampant. But RG3 isn’t going to be running anywhere soon. At least not in a pre-season game.

While reports of his recovery are optimistic, coach Mike Shanahan will not be taking any chances and, according to a front-office report, has decided Griffin won’t take any hits this summer.

Shanahan was criticized for leaving Griffin in last year’s playoff even after it was evident he was hurt. It means that Kirk Cousins is likely to take most of the pre-season snaps as Griffin — who also had the knee repaired once before while in college — slowly works himself back into form.

Shanahan put Griffin through an extensive workout after team doctors cleared his return to practice, but he declined to speculate on whether Griffin would play before the team opens the regular season on Sept. 9 against the Eagles.

NAME GAME

According to Art Monk and Darrell Green, the Washington Redskins should consider changing their name.

“It deserves and warrants conversation because somebody is saying, ‘Hey, this offends me,’” said Green, who along with Monk earned Hall of Fame status playing for the team.

Makes sense. Considering the political shenanigans, the Internal Revenue Service fiasco, and Obama’s security scandals, just the mention of the name, “Washington”, offends a lot of folks.

POLITICAL FOOTBALL

Matt Birk, the recently retired Ravens’ centre, is taking up a new game.

Reports indicate he met recently with the Republican National Senatorial Committee.

Birk declined to comment on that specifically, but admitted he’s looking at various options.

“Kind of the whole gamut. Governor, senator,” Birk told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. “The term ‘public servant’ — that’s appealing to me. There is something about the idea I still find romantic.”

Birk does not shy away from controversial stances. He is opposed to same-sex marriage.

He declined an invitation to celebrate with his Super Bowl-winning team at the White House because he disagreed with President Obama’s stance on abortion, saying, “I am active in the pro-life movement and I just felt like I couldn’t deal with that.”

M IS FOR MUM

Ray Lewis, spoke to SI.com about his future role with ESPN but don’t expect him to have much to say about Aaron Hernandez’s arrest on murder charges.

“It would only be to give a brief explanation on what you know,” Lewis told Richard Deitsch. “Because if you are talking about getting into the case — what happened, how it happened — that’s the judge’s job, that’s the police’s job. Having gone through the things I have been through, what I learned from that is everybody has something they want to say and 80% of them are illiterate. You have to be careful with it. You can’t speak about something you do not know.”

Lewis once was charged in a double murder. In his case, he pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice. That was 13 years ago but it is only recently that, evidently, has moved into a glass house.

PRICKLY SITUATION

The NFL evidently believes a picture is worth a thousand words.

The league is embarking on examining prospects’ tattoos at its annual fitness combine.

The move comes in wake of the June 26 arrrest of Aaron Hernandez in connection with the execution-style killing of Odin Lloyd, 27.

The former New England Patriots tight-end has pleaded not guilty to all charges, including five counts related to illegal firearms possession.

When Hernandez checked into prison, officials studied his numerous tattoos for any gang affiliations.

Along with running, jumping and lifting weights, a CBS report suggests that teams will also be demanding a body search to check out the tattoos of potential draft picks.

RG3 says he's ready to roll

Redskins’ quarterback Robert Griffin III took to Twitter to say he’s ready to pick up a football again.

Just six months after reconstructive surgery to repair an ACL and LCL, doctors have cleared him to practice.

Optimism is running rampant. But RG3 isn’t going to be running anywhere soon. At least not in a pre-season game.

While reports of his recovery are optimistic, coach Mike Shanahan will not be taking any chances and, according to a front-office report, has decided Griffin won’t take any hits this summer.

Shanahan was criticized for leaving Griffin in last year’s playoff even after it was evident he was hurt. It means that Kirk Cousins is likely to take most of the pre-season snaps as Griffin — who also had the knee repaired once before while in college — slowly works himself back into form.

Shanahan put Griffin through an extensive workout after team doctors cleared his retu